First Jeep owner here. I bought an XJ because Wranglers weren't as family freindly, and didn't have much room for hauling. I found one, with some "valve noise" and bought it. Turned out to be a rod knocking. I ended up throwing that rod soon after. Oh well. I replaced the engine with a rebuilt one, all done in my garage with basic hand tools, mostly by myself. *pats self on back*





New engine with J & C enterprises head (no crap 0331 casting here)


Next up, a mild lift to fit some larger tires...
Rusty's 2" springs. 150 lbs rate and AAL in the rear.


I picked up the shocks for $30 for all four. They are JK takeoffs. BPE's are have been used on front and rear mounts.

So I broke the rear mounts and decided just to cut holes. No pictured but I sealed them back up with Dynamat. One day I'll weld them.

I actually got a .5" lift from installing JK shocks. If you do them, go for the black bodies. They are stiff. The red one would be real harsh on a light XJ.

Lift installed. Tires shown are 235/75-15. I plan on running a 30" tire.


Now I have some vibes and a clunk on accel and decel when driving at 30mph. SYE to come.. or a TC drop to get me by.

Future plans include new wheels/tires. I have a set of Moabs..not sure if I'll use them or now. I want 4 or 4.5" of bs.

 

what rear mounts did you break? the shock bolts? those are easily replaced, so I hope you didn't have to cut it all up for that.

Also, are you saying that you got 1/2 inch lift from shocks? Shocks don't give you a lift, its the springs that do, never heard of a shock giving you more height?

Can you clarify?

Nice jeep, love that color, great job on the engine swap.

 

Glad to see the jeep got a better owner who can fix things Hate seeing good jeeps end up in junkyards or as scrap.

About the shocks. I don't know if I agree with that. I run JK rubicon shocks (red bodies). If i'm not mistaken, they are the same just longer. Black bodies came on the standard JKs.

I have a 3" procomp lift, and going from stock shocks to the red-bodies, my ride actually improved. Yes the dampening is stiffer so I get less body roll, but the ride is still great for a DD.

 

Yes upper bolts broke. I know I could have done it different. I didn't want to.

Yes the JK's did lift MY rear a .5". This was because my old shocks where FACTORY 155k miles and basically collapsed soon as I removed them.

I may have to retract my JK being too firm statement... I had it out today and the black body JK's do seem to ride really well with my setup. I love the fact I got them for $30 and have $25 in front BPE's and maybe $5 in alt bushings. $60 max invested in these and they do ride very nice. Perfect for a 2-4" lift, IMO.

 

Since I'm only running a 2" lift, I'm going to pass on the disco's for now to get this thing road worthy... 155k miles and here are the original sway bar connectors... Nothing like a previous owner's upkeep.. check out those bushings. sheesh..




Also, I broke down the old engine so I could actually lift the block up in my Jeep and take it too the scrap yard for a few bucks. The bearings where SHOT.

 

Advance Adaptors SYE and Tom Woods driveshaft installed.

 

New wheels, tires
15x8
31x10.50 Cooper AT3 (these ride really nice)

1" front poly spacer to level out the Rustys lift.
Clear marker lights.

 

How much backspacing? Looks awesome! Do the tires stick out at all? I like the stance and want my Jeep to look like that, but I gotta keep it legal...Any further plans on the build? Congrats on changing the engine by yourself, too!

 

3.75 bs They stick out some..

Yes doing more..stay tuned

 

I am going through your thread ans see you changed tires 4 times, it looks like you settled on the cooper at/3's?

Edit: I just read. I was right. How do you like them? I got some on the '11 f150 and have about 8k on them. I ended up with them in LT sizing. MPG def took a digger going to an LT tire.

 

Nice Work man! Your Jeep looks great, I decided to go with the 30" Coopers & a 2" lift also.
What is your oil pressure on the new engine at idle after it warms up?

 

I love the AT3's.. they're very quiet on the road. They did amazing in a foot of snow too. Great all around tire, I'd buy them again. The deeper tread looks better than the passenger tire ones. Whats good about the 31x10.5 size is they're only 30.3" so they're a better fit for stock gears too.

Its at a 3" lift now and 31's. Oil pressure is great.. 55-60 at start and 40 at full temp. But never trust your factory gauge.. get a scangauge. Temp on dash shows 205º but is really only 192º so its way off, on mine anyway.

 

Installing a Gentex compass/temp mirror and correct speedo gear


Mega powerful speakers here... the wire harness make life easy


Mirror mounted, wires hidden


Works good


good purchase Scangauge II


Magnaflow muffler 18" (factory size) 2.25 in and out


Hella 500 lights hooked up to the factory fog light switch
Autopal housings, H4 90/100w bulbs


Full shots

 

Rugged ridge floor mats..


One piece rear

 

Hey uh did you use a relay for the Hellas? I think I heard that if you want to run bigger lights off the factory switch, you should...I guess it's too much for the stock switch to handle? Just maybe something to look into researching, as I'm not sure how accurate I am, but I just thought I'd mention it if it could potentially help someone....